The desktop wars (was: Re: FC4 or FC5)

[Joe Klemmer]

On Sun, 2006-06-18 at 16:25 -0400, Sean wrote:

>  Linux is doing quite well and there is real reason to hope that the
>  situation will get better on the hardware front as hardware becomes
>  more and more standard.  If Linux managed to have 100% hardware
>  coverage there is little reason to believe everyone would switch away
>  from Windows on the desktop; there is just too much inertia.   OS/2,
>  MAC and others all failed to win the desktop as well; the desktop wars
>  are already over.

	Au contraire, mon ami.  The desktop wars are just revving up.  Mac
didn't get market share because they stuck to a HW/SW solution that
costs 1/3 to 1/2 again as much as the Wintel options.  OS/2 lost because
MS told all the OEM's and system vendors that they would start charging
them for the preinstalled WinXX licenses on any system that duel booted
OS/2 or that only had OS/2.  Plus IBM did one of the absolute worst
marketing moves in the history of the Industry (remember those acid-trip
"OS/2 Warp" commercials?)

>  The _real_ value of Linux and other open source projects is the
>  freedoms given to developers and end users.  Undermining or giving up
>  that aspect of Linux just to get a bit more hardware support would be
>  a real shame.

	Linux is going to move in on the desktop just like it did in the data
centers and server rooms.  It'll be a bit more work to do it but it's
inevitable.

-- 
Joe Klemmer <klemmerj at webtrek.com>